Lenovo Unleashes 3 New Smartphones

By
PC Mag ME TeamSept. 3, 2015, 9:20 a.m.

REPORTING FROM BERLIN—This IFA show has been huge for Lenovo. Along with its phablets, tablets, and laptops, Motorola's owner today unveiled three new Lenovo-branded phones: one with dual-selfie cameras (which we've never seen before) and the others with huge batteries.

The Lenovo Vibe S1 (at right above) is the selfie shooter. It has 8-megapixel and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras, with the second camera used for depth information like on the HTC One M8. Depth cameras haven't been that successful—it's a gimmick that can be simulated in software—but I'm more excited by the fact that this 5-inch, 1080p phone is only 2.78 inches wide, narrower than most flagship phones nowadays. The processor is a Mediatek MT6752, a midrange part comparable to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, and the phone will run $299 unlocked.

The Vibe P1, meanwhile, is about the same size and has a ridiculous 5,000mAh battery, something we've only seen previously on the Blu Studio Energy. This phone has a genuine Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor as well as 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras, all for $279 unlocked. The Vibe P1m (at left above), meanwhile, sets an amazing standard for low-cost LTE phones at only $159 unlocked, with a Qualcomm 615 processor and a large 4,000mAh battery.